Prognostication of neurologic outcome using gray-white-matter-ratio in comatose patients after cardiac arrest

Background: This study aimed to assess the prognostic value regarding neurologic outcome of CT neuroimaging based Gray-White-Matter-Ratio measurement in patients after resuscitation from cardiac arrest.

Methods: We retrospectively evaluated CT neuroimaging studies of 91 comatose patients resuscitated from cardiac arrest and 46 non-comatose controls. We tested the diagnostic performance of Gray-White-Matter-Ratio compared with established morphologic signs of hypoxic-ischaemic brain injury, e. g. loss of distinction between gray and white matter, and laboratory parameters, i. e. neuron-specific enolase, for the prediction of poor neurologic outcomes after resuscitated cardiac arrest. Primary endpoint was neurologic function assessed with cerebral performance category score 30 days after the index event.

Results: Gray-White-Matter-Ratio showed encouraging interobserver variability (ICC 0.670 [95% CI: 0.592–0.741] compared to assessment of established morphologic signs of hypoxic-ischaemic brain injury (Fleiss kappa 0.389 [95% CI: 0.320–0.457]) in CT neuroimaging studies. It correlated with cerebral performance category score with lower Gray-White-Matter-Ratios associated with unfavourable neurologic outcomes. A cut-off of 1.17 derived from the control population predicted unfavourable neurologic outcomes in adult survivors of cardiac arrest with 100% specificity, 50.3% sensitivity, 100% positive predictive value, and 39.3% negative predictive value. Gray-White-Matter-Ratio prognostic power depended on the time interval between circulatory arrest and CT imaging, with increasing sensitivity the later the image acquisition was executed.

Conclusions: A reduced Gray-White-Matter-Ratio is a highly specific prognostic marker of poor neurologic outcomes early after resuscitation from cardiac arrest. Sensitivity seems to be dependent on the time interval between circulatory arrest and image acquisition, with limited value within the first 12 h.